


Lesson 9: Normality

by SirGhirahim



Series: Our Lessons [9]
Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, M/M, Thinking, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 18:38:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9250628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirGhirahim/pseuds/SirGhirahim
Summary: Athelstan wonders how his new way of life has started to become and feel normal.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclamer: I own nothing but the plot. Please don't sue me I'm poor.

Lesson 9: Normality

As Athelstan cast his line into the Fjord he had begun to wonder more and more often how his new way of life had started to become and feel normal. It was a normal to wake up in the morning and make breakfast. It was normal to tend to the land, crops and animals. It was normal to watch the children when the parents weren't around. It was normal to train, fish and drink with Ragnar. It was normal to do crafts, cook and shop with Lagertha. He'd never done these things back in England and yet he enjoyed them. And he often found himself asking the same question...

_How had this become normal for him?_

"Something wrong priest?" Ragnar asked.

His thoughts broken Athelstan replied "Nothing, just thinking"

"About?" Ragnar inquired.

"Nothing much" Athelstan replied.

"It must have been something, for you to have been so distracted" Ragnar pointed out. He slung his arm around Athelstan's should and asked "Are you going to tell me?"

Athelstan hummed playfully and said "No"

Ragnar smiled at Athelstan's joking. He was glad his priest had learned to loosen up and relax. He gently grabbed Athelstan's chin and looked at the now healing cut on his lip. It had been eight days since the intruder attacked and nobody knew who he was or where he came from. The intruder hadn't said anything while being tortured so Ragnar slit his throat and used his body as a warning to anyone else who would dare try the same thing.

"Your cut is healing well" Ragnar said "It might not scar"

"That's good" Athelstan replied, not realising what Ragnar was implying.  

"Is it?" Ragnar asked. Half of him wanted the cut to scar as a reminder of how Athelstan had protected his children. The other half of him didn't want it to scar and ruin Athelstan's perfectly soft lips. The more he thought about it the more he realised scars of any kind would not suit Athelstan at all. He leaned forward and kissed the cut.

Athelstan knew the kiss was coming and he let it happen. It wasn't just Ragnar that kissed him Lagertha had started to do it to. Fighting against them seemed pointless so he just let them do as they pleased.

_How had this become normal for him?_

Ragnar pulled back and said "We should check on the fish"

"Of course" Athelstan replied.

The two of them pulled in the net and put the fish in the basket. They carried them home where Athelstan began to de-bone them.

Lagertha returned not long after with Bjorn and Gyda. The children ran to their father and were scooped up into his awaiting arms. Lagertha kissed her husband and showed him the fresh bread she had brought.  

Athelstan smiled at the scene as his heart ached for his own lost family. He felt tears prick his eyes, but he held them back.

"Are you alright Athelstan?" Lagertha asked.

"Um, yes I'm fine. I just got some dust in my eye" Athelstan lied.

"Both of them?" she asked.

"Yes" he lied again.

After the fish had been prepared and cooked Athelstan set the table and served the food. He grabbed his own plate and sat at the table. He talked, he laughed and he shared stories with the Lothbrok's.

_How had this become normal for him?_

He poured Ragnar more mead and told them the story of how a monk had fallen into a barrel of wine and drunk it all to avoid drowning, or at least that was the story the drunk monk told. They all laughed.

_How had this become normal for him?_

Soon it was time for the children to go to bed. As Lagertha took them away Athelstan pardoned himself. He went outside and took the broom to the shed. He paused and sniffled as pain racked his chest. He still missed his family and being with the Lothbrok's only made him yearn for them even more. But he also craved the Lothbrok families love as well.

_What was wrong with him?_

After a few minutes of crying he left the shed and went back inside. He went to his room and sat on his bed. A few seconds later Lagertha came in.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine" Athelstan replied.

"You have been crying" she pointed out.

"N-No I haven't" he lied.

"I am a mother Athelstan. I can tell" she said. She sat next to him and kissed the cut on his lip "Who do you cry for?" she asked.

"My family" Athelstan said sadly.

"You miss them?" Lagertha asked.

"Of course and being around your family doesn't help. You are so much like them. Always smiling, laughed, teaching each other, eating together, sharing stories. You make me happy and sad at the same time" he explained.

"It's never easy to get over such a loss" Lagertha said "But you should not live in the past"

"I know and I shouldn't like being here or being with you" he said.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because Ragnar took me from my home. His men killed people I knew. You made me your slave. And yet...I've experienced more freedom here than back home" he explained "How is that possible?" he asked.

"Maybe you weren't living life as well as you thought you were back home" Lagertha almost smugly.

Athelstan felt a little offended by her comment, but didn't show it. All he could do was reply "Who knows"

"Why don't you start your own family?" Lagertha suggested.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Find a girl, get married and have lots of children" she teased.

"No girl would want to marry me" Athelstan replied sadly.

"I know a few that would marry a sweet boy like you" she said "Your children would have such curly hair" she smiled.

The two of them sat and talked for a little while longer before Lagertha went back to her own bed.

Athelstan lay on his bed thinking about his life back in England. He realised that maybe Lagertha had a point about him not living life as well as...No he wasn't living the life that he wanted. Since he had been taken by Ragnar he had done so many things that he had always wanted to do and maybe he could continue to do more. Like have his own family? Maybe if someone did like him and want to marry him, then maybe just maybe he could have that as well.

As Athelstan felt his eyes become heavy he felt his lips curve into a smile.  


End file.
